Kikai Fête
by Sparkling-nexis137
Summary: It's been three months since Baroque Works was defeated. Vivi is working hard to help rebuild her country, but what will she do when Miss Goldenweek's older siblings come to town and kidnap Carue for revenge? Read and find out.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The Festival Begins**

**Yay! My second story. I'm sooooooo happy. ^^ I got the idea for this story on April Fool's Day, but there were like a million other stories of that title, so I decided to change it to Kikai ****Fête. Slightly more original, yet it still has a certain ring to it. I would like to thank XXxxDemonsRampantxxXX for helping to inspire me. And now, let the Kikai Fête commence!**

The waves lashed upon the side of the ship as it cut quickly through the ocean's waters. The sun beamed down upon a brightly colored ship. The sea water splashed lightly upon a figure head of a creature with the lower body of a mermaid, and the upper body of a smiling cat wearing a jester's cap. The winds of the sea flew into the ship's tie-dyed sails, propelling it onwards, and causing the ship's Jolly-Rodger, a smiling skull with black swirls for eyes, blush marks on its cheeks, and a jester's cap topping its head, to blows playfully about like a dancer in the sky.

"Ahhh, I just love these rainy days." said a male who was standing at the bow of the ship staring out into the sunlight waters as he held an umbrella above his head to keep the unseen rain off his head. He wore black boots, tie-dyed pants, a purple shirt, and brandished a light purple admiral's coat with a big silly face on the back with the words "I am a purple polka-dotted cockatoo" underneath it upon his back. He stared out at the expanse of sea before him, thinking of nothing but the beauty of the rain as the sun beamed down upon him.

"Yes, yes, lovely rain, now get off the bow of the ship." said a female in an exasperated voice as she grabbed the back of his coat, and pulled him backwards off the bow, causing him to fall backwards onto the deck. She sighed crossing her arms over the outfit she wore, a jester's outfit with a black and red checkered top, a matching skirt, and matching bottoms sticking out from under the skirt to her ankles. The wind brushed lightly at her back, causing her shining black hair to fly playfully about her face. The bells on her curled toe shoes jingled lightly along with the unique bells on her hat, a jester's hat with red on one side and black on the other. It had a black bell with a bored face on the red side that created a deeper jingle, and a red bell with a hyper face on the black side which bounced playful to its own high pitched tune.

"Ow, Niaaaaaa, that wasn't very nice." said the male as he picked up his red tricorn, which bore the ships jolly-Rodger upon the front, from off the deck, patted it against his red shirt, and placed it back on top of his head.

"We have to stay focused on our mission Okashi, or have you forgotten?" she said bobbing her head down towards the male causing her bells to jingle once more.

"Oh… riiiiiight." he said as he picked himself up off the floor, and brushed off his bright green shirt. He then reached into his large purple coat and drew out a picture. "We have to find the one who hurt our dear, sweet, kind, loving, adorable…Ow!" he said as Nia bonked him on the back of the head with a toy hammer.

"We have to find the one who hurt our." she said as she shook her head at her brother's action.

"Right!" he said enthusiastically. "No one hurts our sister and gets away with it." He then grabbed his sister into a small huddle. "Now this will be tough. We can already tell from the picture that he has enormous strength, but to defeat our sister he must be even more fearsome than he looks. We are dealing with a dangerous person, but if we just try our hardest, I know we can succeed!" he said standing up and smiling.

"Captain Nia, Captain Okashi!" said a man dressed in a female conga dancer's costume as her ran towards the pair then dropped into a kneeling position. "Captains, we have just received confirmation on the location of the target. We should arrive at our destination within the hour."

"Perfect!" said Okashi as he smacked his fist into his palm in front of his bright yellow shirt. "He'll never see us coming. He will be as unsuspecting as an orange banana!"

"Yes, an orange banana, sir." said the man in the dress. Okashi pulled out the picture of the offender once more, and held up the picture for him and his sister to see. "Soon." he said.

"Very soon." said Nia staring up at the photograph her brother held. The picture that bore the semblance of a large, cheerful looking spot-billed duck.

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The sun glared down on the courtyard of the Alabastian palace. The bleached white walls of the palace seemed to shine behind the various potted plants around the courtyard. A buzz reverberated throughout the courtyard as the two combatants faced off in the center. "Are you sure about this princess?" said Chaka as he grasped his sword with his jackal-human hands.

"Hit me with everything you've got." said Princess Vivi as a Kujakki slasher spun rapidly on either hand. Chaka smiled as he slide into combat position.

"As you wish princess." Chaka charged forward towards his blue-haired opponent. He slashed his sword in a vertical arc at the slight figure of the princess. Vivi spun quickly sideways in a graceful dodge then followed by sending one of her slashers up at Chaka's head. Chaka ducked as the lethal jewel sailed overhead. He aimed a leg sweep at his opponent, but Vivi leaped high into the air, executed three flips and landed on Chaka's well muscled shoulders.

"You've improved a great deal princess." he said fiercely smiling as he turned his head to look at Vivi.

"And I haven't finished improving yet." she said smiling back.

Chaka quickly rose to a standing position sending Vivi soaring off his shoulder. Vivi used the momentum to execute a back flip and land in a fighting stance behind Chaka. The two combatants charged towards each other once more with fierce looks of determination on their face, neither willing to lose.

"Hold it right there!" said a voice coming from a nearby bush. Both battlers stopped in their tracks, turning to stare at the plant. The top of the bush lifted up as a man with long white curling hair popped out. "Chaka, how dare you be so rough wi..*cough* *cough* Mah mah mah! With the princess!" he yelled as he removed the rest of himself from the bush.

"Igaram!" screamed Vivi indignantly. Chaka laughed at this display from his commander.

"Relax, the princess has grown a great deal. She's no longer a defenseless child." he said smiling as he slide his sword back into his scabbard, and shifted back into his human form. "Pretty soon she'll be the one you have to scold for being too rough on me."

"Stop exaggerating Chaka. It will be a long time before that happens." she said smiling. She then turned to glare fiercely at Igaram whose face flushed from the reprimanding look.

"N-none the less," he said avoiding the princess's stare. "Vivi-sama has other business to attend to. She has a meeting with the representative of Rainbase and dinner with the officials in charge of overseeing the continued reconstruction of Alabasta." Vivi placed her head into the palm of her hand and sighed at the reminder.

"It seems we'll have to reschedule our training session princess." said Chaka smiling.

"It appears so." she said looking up. She smiled one last time at Chaka before walking off to follow Igaram down the corridors of the palace. As she walked down the halls past the various servants going about their business, she watched abstractly at the normal hustle and bustle of the city through the palace windows. It all seemed so regular, so unchanged from the way it once was. It was hard to believe that only three months ago the city had been under siege from one of the foulest villains in existence. Alabasta had been a country besieged by sandstorms and corruption, all caused by the black-hearted Shichibukai Crocodile.

Crocodile had been a powerful man. He had single-handedly set up an entire criminal organization called Baroque Works which he had used to further his goal of finding the ancient weapon Pluton, taking over the country of Alabasta, and making it into the world's greatest military superpower. His plans had come within an inch of succeeding, and it probably would have if not for a certain group of pirates, and their straw-hat wearing leader.

Vivi smiled at the memory. When she had first learned about Baroque Works, she and Igaram, the captain of the palace royal guard, had infiltrated the organization under the guises of Mr. Eight, who had been teamed up with the enormously strong Miss Monday, and Miss Wednesday, who had been paired with the acrobatic Mr. Nine. They worked their way up to the rank of officer agents, and discovered the identity of the mastermind behind Baroque works, Mr. Zero a.k.a Crocodile.

She met the straw hat pirates recently after her discovery. Vivi and Mr. Nine had been on assignment. The mission: take out the giant whale Laboon, and use its meat to feed the residents of Whiskey Peak, a town of bounty hunters all employed by Baroque Work. It should have been child's play, but a certain hyperactive rubber man prevented it from happening. His name: Monkey D. Luffy. He and his crew had not only stopped them, but broke their log and took them hostage as well. They managed to escape their bonds, but because the log was broken they had to ask the crew to take them back to Whiskey Peak. Once the town was insight, she and Mr. Nine jumped overboard and swam to shore.

The town had had a plan for this type of situation. Whenever a pirate would dock on their shores, they would lure them in with hospitality, get them drunk, and then make sure they never woke up again. The plan worked. All of them had been knocked out. All except the swordsman, Roranora Zoro. He single-handedly defeated all one-hundred bounty hunters of Whiskey Peak. At one point he had Igaram, Mr. Nine, and herself cornered, about to finish them off, but then a much greater threat arrive.

The destructive duo of Mr. Five and Miss Valentine. Apparently Mr. Zero had found out about her, and sent these two to finish Igaram and herself off. She had had to flee for her life, but even then she couldn't escape. The duo quickly cornered her, and the only thing that had saved her was the intervention of the hyperactive captain that had stopped her from killing Laboon and the swordsman who had been about to finish her off. They not only saved her from the terrible twosome, but agreed to risk their lives and escort her to Alabasta.

She had set out with the straw hat crew that very night. Over the time it took to get to Alabasta they encountered a prehistoric Island where Mr. Three and Miss Goldenweek, a pair of artists, attempted to kill them along with two giants, and a frozen island where an evil king had tried to reclaim his throne, and the place where they met up with the new ship's doctor Tony Tony Chopper, the blue nosed reindeer.

When they got to Alabasta the rebellion that she had been trying to prevent was already in progress. She and the straw-hat crew had had to venture all across Alabasta, fighting all the dangers of the desert, to try and stop the rebellion, but eventually, when they realized it would be futile to attempt to stop it at its current stage, they set off instead to rid Alabasta of its real problem, Crocodile. The straw hat crew took down all of Crocodile's agents, the mole woman Miss MerryChristmas, the enormously strong Mr. 4 and his gun dog Lasso, the flamboyant Mr. 2 Bon Clay, the thorn woman Miss Doublefinger, the blade man Mr. 1, and, in the end, it was Luffy who defeated Crocodile himself. The rebellion was stopped, and peace was restored to Alabasta, although it would take time to heal the wounds of war.

The straw hat crew had stayed at the palace for a time as they healed, but, due to the pursuit of the Marines, they had been forced to flee. They had invited her to go with them, but, after thinking long and hard, she had decided to stay behind to help her country rebuild. Not a day went by when she didn't think of the fun-loving crew, but she knew she had made the right decision. She did wonder, however, what it would have been like to have gone with them. She imagined all the wonderful adventures she would have had sailing around the seas with them. She had trained every day since then so that if they ever met up at a time when she thought the kingdom was in a state where it could survive without her for a while, she could join up with them and not be a hindrance. It was a silly dream, she thought, but it made her happy to think about it.

She turned her attention back to the task at hand. While she may sail again with them one day, right now she had more important duties to attend to, mainly the repairing of the damages done to her country. She prepared herself as she saw the Rainbase representative at the end of the hall, smiled brightly, and mentally went over the issues to be discussed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Palace Raid**

**Here's Chapter Two everyone. Chapter one was more of a background chapter. Here's where the real fun begins. Now on with the show. ^^**

Carue twitched as the door to the princess's bed chambers opened. The large spot-billed duck looked up as Vivi walked into the room and shut the door behind her. "Sorry to wake you Carue." said Vivi smiling softly as she walked over to her bed next to his. She slumped down on the bed, and let out a long sigh. Carue cocked his head questioningly at the princess. "Don't worry, I'm okay. Just a little tired. It's been a long day." she said as she rubbed Carue's side and pressed her head against his. "At least you're always here for me." she said gently. She smiled, then leaned back and yawned. "Time for a good night's sleep." she said, then leaned back on the bed and rapped herself under the blankets. "Good night Carue." she said as she began to drift off into sleep. Carue gave a honk good night then nestled back into his own bed.

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Moonlight splayed softly over front gates of the palace. The palace guards patrolled the courtyard diligently walking routine paths completely aware of their surroundings, on the guard for any sign of danger. Unbeknownst to them, however, a shadowed figure wearing ninja-style clothing lurked outside the palace wall. As one of the guards turned the corner, the figure detached itself from the wall. It quickly pulled out a grappling hook, twirled it, and threw it at the top of the wall. A tiny clink sounded as the grappling hook attached itself to the wall. The figure tugged twice to make sure the rope was secure then began climbing up the wall.

Once at the top, the figure pulled out a loaded harpoon gun. It aimed carefully, then fired it at the roof of the palace. The harpoon stuck firmly to the roof of the palace, successfully attaching a rope between the wall and the roof. The figure grabbed the rope and began to swiftly climb across the area over the courtyard. Once on the roof, the figure secured yet another rope to the edge of the roof, threw it off the roof, and began to scale down the side of the building. The figure landed lightly on the ground, and quickly snuck into a shadowy part of the wall.

The figure looked both ways, checking that its position was secure, before detaching itself from the wall. It then proceed to do a complex series of acrobatics around the courtyard including cartwheels, flips, rolling on the ground, and a brief silent cheerleading routine involving two bright red pom-poms and some confetti.

After the figure had finished, it attached itself back to the wall and snuck silently around the walls. As it approached a corner, it slowly peaked out to make sure the cost was clear, but quickly withdrew when it saw someone on the other side. After a moment of panic, the figure reassessed what it had seen, and looked back around the corner. "Nia!! What are you doing?!" yelled the figure.

Captain Nia sat reading a small black book, her black hair shining in the moonlight, while sitting on top of a large pile of unconscious guards.

"I got tired of waiting for you to give the signal that it was secure, so I came in and knocked out the guards." she said calmly flipping a page in her book.

Okashi quickly whipped off his ninja outfit to reveal his usual attire. "I had everything completely under control." he said wiping the dust of his midnight blue shirt.

"The guards were about to come get you when I entered." said Nia matter-of-factly. "They heard the theme music you were humming."

"Curses." he said swiftly turning away from Nia and smacking his hand into his palm in front of his neon orange shirt. "I knew I should have whistled."

"Yes, yes, 'cause whistling would never be heard by the guards." said Nia after bonking Okashi on the back of the head with her toy hammer. "Now let's get back to the plan."

"Right." he said energetically. He then reached into his coat, and pulled out a large bazooka. He aimed at an upstairs window in the palace, and fired a large net. The net sailed into the air through the window, then Okashi pulled a lever, and the net sailed back through the air carrying a large spot-billed duck squirming in confusion. In a matter of seconds a very confused Carue was bound and gagged sitting on the ground as Okashi stood triumphantly splaying the full front of his bright pink shirt. "Success." he said smiling.

"………Okashi… how did you know that he was just inside that particular window." asked Nia with one eye-brow raised in the air.

"I didn't. It was my plan to just keep firing in every window we saw, and see what happened." he said still standing proudly. A sweat drop formed on the back of Nia's head.

"So you just got extremely lucky." she asked.

"Yes!" he said still standing proudly. Nia paused for a moment before smacking her head with her hand.

"..Ow." she said as she pulled her hand away from her head.

"Now listen." said Okashi as he pulled her in close. "We have to make sure that there are no witnesses." he said quietly, then grabbed her shoulders lightly shaking her. "DO YOU HEAR ME?! WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE TO BE REALLY QUIET AND MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO WITNESSES!!!" he yelled causing light to come on in the palace.

"Oh…" said Okashi as Nia smacked her hand into her head once more.

"Who's there?" said a large man with black hair as he came running out of the palace.

"Quick," said Okashi, "you take care of this guy, and I'll go gather the other witnesses." He then ran quickly away to fetch the witnesses, leaving Nia alone with the large man.

Nia sighed then turned her attention to the task before her.

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Chaka had run outside as soon as he had heard the yelling. Once outside he saw two strange figure standing close together in the middle of the courtyard with Caure tied up at their side.

"Who's there?" he shouted.

"Quick," said the taller of the two figures. "you take care of this guy, and I'll go gather the other witnesses." He then fled leaving Chaka alone with a girl dressed in a bizarre jester's costume. The girl sighed then looked up at Chaka.

"So, what's your name?" she said nonchalantly.

"I am Chaka, captain of the royal guard, and a guardian of the royal family."

"Well," she said smiling. "That's an impressive title. My name's Nia. Nice to meet you."

"Leave now and untie the duck, or you will be severely punished." said Chaka.

"Punished? We're the one's doing the punishing. This guy," she said indicating Carue with a jerk of her thumb. "beat up my little sister. Do you think we're going to let him get away with that?" she said putting her had to her hip. Chaka gave her a puzzled look then shook it off.

"I don't know what happened to your sister, but if you release Carue we can talk it over in a calmer matter." he said.

"Nope." said Nia. "We want to be the ones who deliver justice. Nothing personal."

"Well," said Chaka as he drew his sword. "then I have no other choice than to force you to leave."

"Do you really want to try that?" she asked leaning her head to the side with a quizzical look on her face. Chaka's face assumed a snarl as he shifted into his jackal-human hybrid form.

"Yes." he said. Nia fell backwards at the sight.

"Ow." she said rubbing her bottom. "You've eaten a Devil's fruit. You're a…dog." she said accusingly. Chaka smiled.

"Still feel like taking me on?" he said.

"Now more than ever." she said getting off the ground with her eyes closed. As she stood up, she opened her eyes to reveal glowing spheres wear he eyes once were. Black started to cover her hands and face. Her nose began to elongate, and six whiskers began to sprout from it. A black tail shot out from underneath her skirt. In a mere moment the girl before Chaka had turned into something entirely different.

"Meow." said the smiling cat creature in front of him. The glow in her eyes dimmed to reveal yellow eyes with black slits for pupils.

"It seems I'm not the only one who's eaten a Devil's Fruit." said Chaka with his sword pointing towards the cat creature. Nia's feline smile broadened.

"I ate the Neko Neko no mi: Model Kuro no Neko." she said smiling.

"A black cat." said Chaka.

"Yep." she said smiling. "Still want to fight, inu-kun." Chaka snarled.

"Bring it, neko-chan." Chaka charged at the cat creature before him. Nia laughed before disappearing from in front of Chaka. Chaka stopped in his tracks. "Where'd she go?" he said looking around for his opponent.

"I'm right here, inu-kun." said Nia from behind Chaka's shoulder. Chaka started before quickly turning with his sword extended in a slashing arc. In the blink of an eye he was facing where the voice had come from, but not quick enough. Nia was gone once more.

"Too slow." she said from her position sitting on the palace roof. Chaka snarled as he put his sword in his mouth and transformed into his full jackal form. He began running towards the palace wall, then leaped up with lightning speed.

"Howling Fang!" he shouted as he changed back into his hybrid form, and slashed at Nia. Right before the blade touched, Nia disappeared right before Chaka's eyes once more. Chaka slid to a stop on the roof, and began looking frantically around.

"Fast," said Nia's voice, "but not fast enough." Nia suddenly appeared crouching right before Chaka. Chaka looked down at the cat-human hybrid him with a shocked expression. "Kitty…" said Nia smiling as she reeled back to aim a punch. As she leaned forward to throw the blow, her entire lower arm disappeared. "Kapow!!" she called as the invisible blow stuck Chaka straight in the chest. Air and saliva flew out of Chaka's mouth in the brief second between the time he was hit, and the time it took for his body to fly at blinding speeds into the ground creating a massive crater.

Chaka's unconscious form lay injured in the crater below as Nia hopped lightly down from the roof transforming back into her human form on the way. "Night inu-kun." she said smiling. Carue stared, shocked, at the figure of the unconscious Chaka. Nia quickly pulled out a rope, and tied up Chaka.

"Nia!!" yelled the voice of her brother as she finished the last knot on the unconscious captain. "I have captured the key witnesses." he said happily as he tugged at his rope. Nia looked down the rope he was tugging, which was attached to a statue of a falcon, a statue of a jackal, a rock, and a loaf of bread. Nia stared at the objects for a moment more before smacking her head with the palm of her hand.

"Ow…" she said as she drew her hand away from her head.

"We now have all the witnesses." said Okashi.

"Okashi, why did we need to gather witnesses in the first place." said Nia.

"Because if we leave them behind then people will know we were here." said Okashi as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Nia slowly turned her head towards the pile of unconscious guards, then to the tied up duck and guard captain, then to the large crater right in the middle of the courtyard, then finally back towards her brother. She raised her finger and started to say something, but decided against it at the last moment. Instead she just shook her head at her brother and kept silent.

"Come on." said Okashi. He grabbed the ropes binding Carue and his string of "witnesses" and ran off towards the palace front gate. Nia sighed as she grabbed the bound Chaka and ran after her brother.

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"Caure! Chaka!" screamed Vivi from her window as she looked out at the fleeing figures. Vivi had been awoken by the sound of Carue squawking as he was drug out the palace window. She ran to the window in time to see the strangely dressed figure standing out in the courtyard with Carue tied beside them. The taller of the two figures grabbed the girls in the jester's costume and started yelling, then ran off when the lights had come on in the palace.

She had watched as the girl in the jester's costume turned into a black cat creature and defeated Chaka as if he were a new born pup. "Chaka!" she had screamed as his body had plummeted into the ground below.

She was paralyzed for a moment as she watched the two fleeing figures before clenching her teeth in anger. She quickly ran back into her room, then leaped out the window, her Kujakki string slasher trailing behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Palace Gates**

**Sorry it has taken so long for me to update. A bunch of stuff came up. I'm also sorry for posting such a short chapter after such a long time of absence, but I felt I need to make this chapter short to help the next chapter. Thank you very much to all those who continue read my work. And now back to the show. ^^**

"Hurry Nia." yelled Okashi at his sister. Nia blew a lock of hair out of her eyes as she ran two feet behind her brother, easily keeping pace. They were almost back to the front gates.

*knock knock knock* sounded three huge thumps on the gate ahead of them. Okashi made a screeching halt before landing on his face a good twenty feet from the door.

"Okay?" said Nia stopping nimbly beside him as he got up. He got up quickly sticking one hand out to keep Nia back and using his other hand to make a shushing signal.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllooooooooooooooo?" said the voice outside the gate. Okashi watched tensely as the front gate began to very slowly push open. Once the gate was open far enough, a large, blond headed pizza man with wearing an orange outfit with the words "Pizza in 30 hours or less" written on his apron. "Heeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllooooooooooooooo?" the pizza man called once more. "Deeeeeeeeelllliiiiivvveeeeeerrrrryyyyyyyyy!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!! He's seen too much!" shouted Okashi dropping the prisoners he was holding on to and shaking Nia. "We must capture him!"

"And why do we need to capture the pizza guy?" said Nia in a flat tone.

"This is not the time for questions!" shouted Okashi quickly before turning his attention back to the unfortunate witness. The pizza man stood there for a long moment staring at Okashi and Nia with a blank look on his face. There was a long moment where everyone just stood silently and stared at each other. Finally, a look of comprehension passed over the pizza man's face as he got what was going on. He reached over his shoulder behind his back, and pulled out the large metal baseball bat that had been strapped there. The enormous bat gleamed in the moon light, a large number four clearly visible on the bat's side. Okashi reached into his coat as he charged towards the pizza man. The pizza man reeled back the bat. As soon as Okashi got within range, the pizza man swung the bat with such force that a nearby column cracked from the sheer force of the swing. The pizza man looked around frantically when the booming sound that usually occurred when he hit an opponent didn't occur.

"It's for you!" shouted Okashi from on top of the large metal bat that the pizza was still holding in the air. A startled look passed over the pizza man as he looked to where the voice was coming from. Okashi kneeled on the bat with his right hand holding a metal den den mushi, and his left hand holding out the receiver to the pizza man. The pizza man stared for a moment at the receiver before leaning his ear up against it.

"Heeeeeellllloooooooo?" said the pizza man.

An enormous explosion erupted at the front gates of the palace. The smoke bellowed out over the front courtyard. The now smoking pizza man fell to the ground where he lay severely injured. Okashi starred with a quizzical expression on his face at the pizza man's unconscious form. After a moment Okashi smacked his fist into the palm of his hand in front of his indigo shirt. "Must have been a wrong number." he said plainly. Nia quickly smacked him in the back of the head with her toy hammer. "Owwww," said Okashi rubbing the back of his head. "What was that for?"

"Because." said Nia. "Now let's go." she quickly tied up the pizza man, and lifted him off the ground along with the unconscious Chaka.

"Stop!"

Vivi had begun running twice as fast when she saw the explosion at the front gate. She put her sleeve up to her mouth to keep from breathing the smoke as she got closer to the front gate. When she got close enough to see through the smoke, she saw the girl wearing the jester's costume tying up what looked like a pizza delivery man. "Stop!" she had yelled as she continued to run towards the pair.

"Great, another witness." said the girl as she blew a strand of hair from in front of her eyes. Vivi leaped up into the air.

"Kujakki String Slasher!" she yelled as she swung the lethal chain of jewels at the girl. The taller of the two ran in front of the girl with his hand in his coat.

"Super Shield!" he yelled as he pulled out a tiny drink umbrella from inside his coat. He quickly opened the miniature umbrella and held it in front of him. The jewels flew with deadly accuracy through the air before ricocheting into the air as it hit the tiny shield.

"What?!" said Vivi as she landed on the ground with her string slasher lying limp at her side. '_How could a tiny umbrella deflect my Kujakki string slasher?' _she thought to herself as she went over what had happened.

"Uh, that's not the one you should be focusing on right now." said the girl from behind her. Vivi turned around quickly with an astonished look, but not quickly enough. The girl grabbed Vivi's arm and shoved it up behind her back. Vivi cried out in pain. "You're the third witness we've had to capture." said Nia.

"Seventh." said the tall male pointing to a rope tying two of the palace statues, a rock, and a loaf of bread together. "And we can't take any more witnesses. If we do then they'll realize that we were here." The girl gave the male a dangerous look.

"Okashi… if we leave her," said the girl, "then won't she tell them we were here anyway?"

"Good point." said Okashi as he held up his finger to the side of his cheek, pondering. "I know." He blurted out. He reached into his coat and pulled out an apple and a knife. "I have a brilliant plan!" he said, a broad smile plastering his face. "But first, she needs t go to sleep."

Vivi shifted her gaze from the strange string of tied up objects to the colorful pirate. _'What does he mean by that?'_

"On it." said the girl. The girl quickly raised her hand and sent a hard chop down on the back of Vivi's neck. Vivi tried to cry out in pain, but no sound came out. She felt herself falling as the world around her went dark.  
"Night night." she heard the male say as she drifted into unconsciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Determination**

"Uh." groaned Vivi as she started to revive. _'What happened?'_ she thought begging to get up. The moon had almost set in the sky above her as she struggled to get up. As she lifted her head from the ground, something red swam before her eyes. _'What is….' _Her vision cleared as she focused on the object. _'An…apple?'_ she thought as she stared at the red thing before her. As her vision completely cleared she made out a likeness of Carue's face upon the fruit._ 'Carue?'_

She began to look frantically around her. She was surrounded by fruit. A peach that looked like Chaka, a pineapple that looked like a pizza man, an orange that looked like a piece of bread. Vivi turned her eyes back to the Carue apple. She bit her lip as she grabbed the apple. Tears started to run down her cheeks. Her eyes slowly shifted as her tears of pain were replaced by tears of anger. Vivi bit her lip hard as she stared at the carved fruit, and then crushed it in her hand.

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"Hahaha." laughed Okashi as he stood at the bow of the ship as it sliced through the ocean. "It was a marvelous plan. With my exact replicas of all the people we took, the princess will wake up, think that the replicas are the real people, do happy dance, and then celebrate their non-kidnappedness by having everyone in the country bake cookies and wear nothing but purple for three days. Hahaha."

Nia sat in her deck chair shaking her head. "That plan might just have become a nominee for worst plan of the year." she said.

"Really!? I may still win the Bumbler's award at this year's Nonsense Festival! " said Okashi as stars shined in his eyes.

"Great." said Nia. "You can put it with the other awards you win from that festival every year."

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"I'm going after them." said Vivi as she rampaged through her room gather everything she thought she might need.

"H-h-hold on Vivi-sama!" said a paralyzed Igaram as he watched helplessly from the side. "You can't just do such things! You have responsibilities! It's far far far too dangerous! Please stop this nonsense at once!"

"I won't stop." she said as she continued to gather her things in the candlelit room. "They kidnapped both Chaka and Carue. They are not going to get away with this."

"But we'll call the guards, we can assemble the soldiers, we can call the world government! Just wait a minute!" said the frantic Igaram. "I refuse to let you leave!" said Igaram as he threw himself in front of the door. "I have a duty to your father to keep you from harm. I will not allow you to put yourself in danger."

Vivi finished tying up her bags, and walked right up to Igaram's chest. "Move Igaram." she said softly. For a moment a vision of Vivi's mother flashed before Igaram's eyes. Such strength, just like the queen. Igaram faltered before the stare.

"Thank you." said Vivi as she pushed past the head of the royal guard.

"W-wait!" yelled Igaram as her held out a hand towards Vivi. Vivi turned around to look at Igaram.

Igram looked down at the ground, and clenched his fists. "If you're going to go….at least let me accompany you!"

Vivi smiled at the curly-haired man. "Igaram, I would never risk putting you in danger. I know you want to protect me, but I'm not a little girl anymore. I can take care of myself."

Igaram sighed in defeat. "I thought that would be your response." he said, then looked up with new-found strength. "Well, if you won't let me come with you, at least let me help you in another way."

Vivi looked questioningly a Igaram. Igaram quickly pulled her back into the room. "We were hoping that we would never have to reveal its existence to you, but it seems now we have no choice."

"Reveal what?" asked Vivi, slightly nervous.

Igaram looked straight into Vivi's eyes. "Back when the Crocodile had just been defeated, and just when peace had been restored to the kingdom, your father and I both had a dream. We both dreamt that you chose to go out to sea and become a pirate. This dream terrified us both. After Luffy and the others left, we felt a little safer, but that still didn't stop us from worrying that you would one day pursue a permanent life at sea. We were both frantic for a week, trying to figure out exactly what to do. We at first thought that it would be a good idea to have armed guards follow you around day and night, but, after much debate, we figured that this would be slightly too extreme." Vivi shuddered at how close she had come to making their dream into a reality.

"Eventually we decided that if it was truly your heart's desire to become a pirate, we wanted you to be as prepared as possible. We set to work immediately."

"On what?" said Vivi, uncertainly.

"A ship… The greatest ship ever created in the kingdom of Alabasta. For the past three months we've had soldiers secretly working night and day to construct it, and load it with everything you could possibly need. We had our doubts about the project taking away resources from the country as it was being repaired, so we never spent anymore on it then could be afforded at them time. We scrapped just to make sure that this ship could be completed without causing harm to the country. We were almost at completion, but it seems we no longer have any time to wait."

Vivi looked stared in shock at Igaram. How could it be possible?

"The ship is hidden in a secret alcove along the banks of the Sandora River. Now, we have to hurry." said Igaram as he grabbed Vivi's hand and dragged her out the door. The two began running through the corridors of the palace.

"The sun will be up soon, and the guards are already swarming the palace because of the invaders. If your father finds out, he'll never allow you to go."

Vivi and Igaram burst outside to the palace stables. Two guards in front of the stable turned to the pair. "Igaram-sama, Vivi-sama!"

"Prepare a coach for the princess!" yelled Igaram at the soldiers.

"W-why?" said one of the soldiers.

"This is no time for questions! We have to get the princess to safety in case the invaders come back. Now, hurry!" yelled Igaram.

"Y-yes, sir!" the guards shouted in unison as they went to prepare the coach.

"Now princess, you must promise me that you'll be as safe as possible on your journey."

"Y-yes!" said Vivi getting over her shock at the situation. The guards brought a large coach pulled by two horses, one black one white, around from the side of the stables.

"Your coach, Vivi-sama." shouted the guards in unison.

"Now hurry Vivi-sama, before your discovered." said Igaram as he helped her get up to the driver's seat.

Vivi paused after taking her seat. "Thank you, Igaram." she said softly as she turned to face him.

"You're welcome, Vivi-sama." he said softly back. "Oh, and take this." he said shoving a rolled up piece of paper into Vivi's hands. "It's a map to the location of the ship. Now go!" said Igaram pointing to the gates.

"Yes." she said as she cracked the reins. The horses whinnied fiercely before charging through the gate.

"Take care Vivi-sama!" yelled Igram after the couch.

"I will! I will return home safely with everyone! Wait and see!" yelled Vivi back as the she drove the vehicle through the waking streets of Alubarna in route to the desert, and then onto the Sandora River.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Meeting at the Café **

Vivi charged through the desert, the wind in her face and a look of determination in her eyes. The sun was high in the sky. She had been driving the coach for hours non-stop.

'_The horses are getting tired.'_ she thought as she continued to charge into the wind. It would soon be time for a stop. Her eyes drifted over the surrounding desert searching for a place to rest. She stopped. There was something off to the side. It was a distance away.

'_What is that.' _she said staring at it. The horses also caught sight of it. _'It's so colorful.'_ she said staring at it. Her eyes started to soften as she stared. The horses also stared. _'So…colorful.' _ They slowly started to drift towards the object.

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"Where is that moron? Where is he? Where? Where? Whe?" said the woman as she marched rampantly across the café floor, went to look out the window, then started pacing again. "That idiot! He's to slow! Slow! Slow!"

"Relax Miss Merry Christmas. He's always slow." said the blue haired bartender as she polished glasses. Western style music played in the background of the old saloon style building. The wooden floors, walls, and rafters were all polished clean, and the various tables were all neatly arranged for the customers, which were unfortunately absent at the time.

"Kyahahaha! Yah, take a chill pill. You're going to ruffle your dress. Here have some of my special chocolate. It's a new recipe." said the blonde haired chocolate lady as she entered the room from the kitchen carrying four plates of chocolate dessert with a lemon pattered bandana tied around her head.

"Shut up! Shut up! Paula, Miss Valentine, shut up!" said Miss MerryChristmas lifting up her princess dress to stop her foot avidly. "I'm not talking about Mr. 4. Even with his special scooter he shouldn't be back till tomorrow. The slowpoke! Too darn slow! Slow! I was talking about Mr. 5 and Lasso. They should be back by now. Too slow!"

"The reports said that it was a very big fire. They'll be back soon." said Paula as she continued to clean glasses.

Miss Merry Christmas fumed at this comment. "They're still too slow." she began to pace again. "And you." she said stalking over to a little girl in a professional artists outfit sitting on the counter. "Miss Goldenweek! You said that the new paint job you put on the outside of the Spider's Café would definitely attract more customers. Why are there no customers? Why? W?"

Miss Goldenweek slowly turned her head towards Miss Merry Christmas and stared. There was a long moment of silence. "STOP WITH THAT CREEPY STARE!" screamed Miss Merry Christmas.

"My paints will definitely attract people." said Miss Goldenweek calmly. "The color pattern I put on the outside hypnotizes people into wanting to come here."

"That's still creepy. You're creepy. Cree. Cre." Suddenly Miss Merry Christmas was sitting on the counter next to Miss Golden Week having tea. "My, such delicious tea." she said calmly.

"Color's Trap: Green-Color of Soothing." said Miss Goldenweek staring at the green symbol she had painted on Miss Merry Christmas's cheek before picking up her tea.

"Kyahahahaha!" laughed Miss Valentine as she sat with her legs crossed on one of the tables.

"I guess that's one way to calm her down." said Paula.

"We're home!" yelled Mr. 5 as he walked through the swinging doors, his fireman's uniform covered in soot. "Come on Lasso." He said to the tank dog behind him. The dog walked/ rolled in covered in soot also.

"Welcome back." said Paula. "How was it?"

"It was fun." he said taking a seat. "The fire was massive. It covered three building. Eventually we had to blow up the two building on the sides to stop it from spreading to the rest of the city. Lasso did a great job." he said leaning back and grinning. The tank dog barked then blushed lowering his head.

"Kyahaha." laughed Miss Valentine. "Well it's a good thing you two were there. A bomb man and a tank dog are perfect for that kind of work. Now why don't you try my new dish to celebrate a job well done." She picked up two of the plate, and set one on the table beside Mr. 5 and the other in front of Lasso.

Mr. 5 picked up a fork, and took a bite of the dessert. "Heaven." he said his eyes drifting back into his head as sparkles surrounded him. "Your chocolate is the best." Lasso lapped up some of the chocolate, and was likewise surrounded by sparkles.

"Kyahaha! Thanks." she said winking.

"You two had Miss Merry Christmas worried." said Paula pointing to the princess dressed waitress in question.

"Such good tea." said Miss Merry Christmas serenely.  
"Ah! Miss Merry Christmas! Miss Goldenweek, what did I tell you about painting her." said Mr. 5.

"I forget." said Miss Goldenweek monotonely before sipping her tea.

"Jeez." said Mr. 5, exasperated, as he went over and whiped the paint off of Miss Merry Christmas's face. In the blink of an eye he was lying on his back with a throbbing chin.

"You're late! You took too long! Moron! Mo! Mo!" she said, a stitch throbbing in her fist.

"Kyahahaha!" laughed Miss Valentine at the scene.

"Perhaps you should have let someone else do that." said Paula shaking her head as she continued to clean glasses. There was a jingle from the bell at the front doors.

"A customer!" said Miss Merry Christmas excitedly. Everyone, including the sore Mr. 5, turned their heads towards the door. A dazed looking Princess Vivi came walking through the door rubbing both her eyes.

Everyone's face quickly froze into blue masks of horror. They all sat frozen to where they were watching the princess they had once hunted down to kill rub her eyes coming further into their new Spider's Café.

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Vivi continued rubbing her eyes. One moment she was looking off into the desert at some colorful building, and the next she was standing outside the building with the horses. She finished rubbing her eyes, and looked up. It was a saloon style building. It looked very clean, but there didn't seem to be anyone around.

"Hello?"

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The six former Baroque Works agents sat crouching in a small circle in the kitchen.

"What is she doing here?" whispered Miss Valentine.

"Has she come to arrest us again?" said Miss Merry Christmas.

"No, if she came here trying to arrest us, she'd have guards with her." said Paula.

"Maybe they're outside. It could be a trap." said Mr. 5.

"I don't think so." said Paula. "The government doesn't know where we are, and we've been very careful not to give ourselves away."

"It could still be a trap." said Miss Merry Christmas. "They may suspect that we're here, and they sent her in to see if we really are."

"She would be able to recognize us, no matter what we're wearing." said Miss Valentine.

"But they wouldn't send in the princess of Alabasta into a den of suspected criminals." said Miss Goldenweek.

"Then what is she doing here?!" said Miss Merry Christmas in a loud whisper.

"Hello?" called the princess again from the main room.

"Well, we'll have to find out." said Paula. "Here's the plan."

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"Hello?" called Vivi for the third time. _'Where is everybody.' _thought Vivi. _'There must be someone here. This place is too clean for it to be abandoned.'_ Vivi started to walk towards the kitchen door. _'Maybe the owner stepped out.'_

"Welcooooome!" said a lady with crazy swirling glasses, large red hair, and a mustache wearing a princess dress as she popped out the door. Vivi screamed, startled.

"What can we do for you this fine day?" said another lady who had the same glasses and mustache combination, and was dressed in a chocolate lady's outfit as she stepped out from behind the first woman with her hands clasped in front of her.

Vivi raised her hand and started to say something. "Please, not another word." said the first woman.

"Let our caring, kind, completely non-criminal staff serve you in every way." said the second. The two, ladies rushed forward grabbing Vivi under each arm. They sat her down roughly at one of the round purple tables.

"What would you like to order?" said a fireman with the same glasses and mustache combination.

"Can we get you anything to drink?" called the blue haired bartender with the same facial combination from the bar.

"We also offer portrait paintings." said a little girl dressed as an artist with the same features as all the rest as she set a vase with a flower in it on the table.

"What would you like?" said the princess woman. Vivi looked up at the assembled people surrounding her, all staring.

"Umm……….May I have a minute to think?" said Vivi uncertainly.

"Of Course!! Of course, of course, of course!" said the princess. "Here's a menu, just take your time. Hahahahaha!" All the people laughed nervously, before rushing off to their various stations.

Vivi sat still for a moment before slowly pulling up her menu. She pretended to look at it while slyly looking over the top. _'Mustaches and glasses must be very popular around here.'_ she thought to herself.

She started looking over her menu.

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Miss Merry Christmas and Mr. 5 walked up to the bar. "So far, so good." said Paula cleaning a glass.

"The disguises seem to be working." said Mr. 5.

"Though I'm not sure how." said Paula sweat dropping. "Now, we need to find out why she's here."

"I still say she's a spy." said Miss Merry Christmas. Vivi looked over from her menu at the three. They all stiffened for a moment before smiling broadly at her and waving. Vivi stared for a moment longer then went back to her menu. They all relaxed.

"Whatever the reason we need to make sure that her time here is as nice as possible. If she's a customer, then we need to make her at home, and if she's a spy we need to make sure she has nothing to report. Agreed?" said Paula.

"Agreed." said Miss Merry Christmas and Mr. 5 in unison.

"Good."

"Excuse me! I'm ready to order." called Vivi from her table.

"Miss Merry Christmas." said Paula. Miss Merry Christmas nodded briskly before turning around with a huge smile plastered on her face.

"Yes, dear? Are you ready to order?" asked Miss Merry Christmas.

"Yes, I would like the spicy bomu pasta with a piece of lemon chocolate for dessert." said Vivi.

"Excellent choices." said Miss Merry Christmas taking her menu. "So, what brings you out to this part of the desert?" she asked after giving the order to Paula, who intern gave in to Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine.

"Oh…" said the princess suddenly seeming depressed.

"What's wrong?" said Miss Merry Christmas seeing an opportunity to get information.

"It's a long story." said Vivi putting her head down on the table.

"Oh, come, come, come, come, come. You can tell me." she said pressing the advantage. Vivi sighed in submission.

"Last night there was a break in at the palace."

"Oh, really?" said the waitress pulling up a chair. "Do tell! Tell, tell, te." All the other former officers had their ears trained on the conversation while pretending to do something else.

"Two people, a male and a female, broke into the palace, and kidnapped some people very precious to me."

"And you're going after them?" asked the princess-waitress.

Vivi sat silently for a moment before offering a brisk nod."Yes, I'm going to save all those who have been taken." said Vivi gripping her fist in determination.

"…That's very brave of you, but don't you think that it's too dangerous for someone like you to take on people like them? Not that I really know much about you or anything!" Miss Merry Christmas added hastily. "It's just you don't seem like much of the fighting type. You did say you were from the palace, right?" sweat quickly formed on Miss Merry Christmas's face.

"I don't care how dangerous it is. I'm going to get everyone back. Carue, Chaka, even the pizza man they kidnapped on the way out. I'm going to get them all back!" Vivi slamed her hands down on the table and stood up. She started panting from the exertion of her speech. She calmed herself down. Everything was very quiet. She started looking around. Everyone in the café was frozen.

"Did you say pizza man?" said Miss Merry Christmas in a very dark tone.

"Y-yes." said Vivi.

"What exactly did this pizza man look like?" asked the waitress. Vivi paused for a moment.

"I didn't get a good look at him, but, from what I saw, he was a large male wearing an orange uniform." she said. "Oh, and he had a large baseball bat with him."

"WHAAAAAAAT!?" screamed the waitress. She quickly sprang up from her chair, grabbed the front of Vivi's clothes, and lifted her into the air.

Vivi stared down in shock at the waitress as her hands flew up to where she was being grabbed.

"Miss Merry Christmas!!" screamed the bartender at the waitress.

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'_Miss Merry Christmas?!' _screamed Vivi in her head. Vivi quickly shifted her weight forward on the waitress to grab her glasses, then kicked off from her chest into a back flip out of her grip. The waitress stumbled back a few steps as Vivi landed gracefully a few feet in front of her with the glasses in hand. The waitress looked up towards Vivi. Vivi gasped.

"Baroque Works." she said almost inaudibly.

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**Hi there. ^^ If anything in this chapter confused you, you know, like princess-waitress Miss Merry Christmas, please look up the Miss Goldenweek mini arc. Oh, and I am super sorry for not updating recently. Just a bunch of stuff. I thank you for continuing to read my work despite the delays. Also, reviews are much appreciated. Until next time. ^^**


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